A cross on paper gives you struggle credentials?

Two posts ago I mentioned that a 'yes ' vote in 1991 doesn't give a white person struggle credentials. http://www.news24.com/MyNews24/The-white-struggle-20140424Predictably, that upset numerous individuals. I decided to reserve an entire post for this topic to explain my train of thought. If you still feel hysterical after reading this, you either suffer from a God complex, or have psychopathic tendencies. Let's hope neither is the case, So, let's start by talking about referendums: I believe in a more direct form of democracy. The public should be able to give their input on certain issues. The most recent examples of where more public involvement should have been required would be the tolling system in Gauteng, general lack of 'guidelines' in ministerial hand books, the liberalisation of our economy, fracking in the Karoo, more transparency in various property development projects (e.g. Plettenberg Bay), the protection of information, etc. Each situation justified a referendum. Yet, during these 20 years of democracy, our government never saw it fit to consult with the public on matters that affect them. Many people applauded the De Klerk administration for getting public input in ending Apartheid by means of a referendum. However, in my opinion, a good government should be able to make unpopular laws in order to protect human rights. In some ways the public should be saved from themselves. Although I get to have my say about things that affect me, I have no right to vote on somebody else's basic rights. For this reason, the government should at all costs uphold certain constitutional values. Non-negotiables should be human dignity, the right to live, the right to equal access to resources, gay rights, women's rights, religious freedom and children's rights. Somebody else blew a fit to my post because I dared to say that as humans we were born with respect. Well, regardless of what anybody has to say, respecting somebody's dignity is not something that should be rewarded, it's something that should be expected. F.W. De Klerk is no exception to the rule. As decent human being and president of a nation his role should have been to protect all human rights, unceremoniously. Giving white South Africa the power to vote on whether non-white South Africans deserve equal rights, and then turning this affair into a whole white messianic ego trip is laughable. I mean, you make a group of people who already have over-inflated egos as result of their race believe they get to decide whether another deserves dignity or not? Then you further inflate their egos by making them feel like heroes for taking that 'brave step'? And then endorse their feelings of victimhood when they lose some unearned privileges, saying this is not what they had voted for? The fact that he won the Nobel prize for this 'kindness' is beyond me. Wanting what is right is what makes us human. Kindness should be sincere, and shouldn't seek approval. However, being human, even though we were born to respect, we all learnt to hate at some point in time. Good leaders should rise above hatred, and protect all human rights, regardless of popular opinion. Rights are nobody's to give or take - Voting 'yes' in '91 was indeed the moral thing to do, but a decent human being should have been able to do so without craving a pat on the back.For this reason, I really wish the bulk of white people would rethink the way they see the world, and stop seeing themselves as saviours. I am beyond fed-up with some white people demanding super hero status for doing something that is morally right - something engrained in our DNA. If you don't get that, go make an appointment with a good psychiatrist. The world could do with less psychopaths and megalomaniacs.

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Smaller parties, notably, took a beating. AGANG never made it to the start and COPE became a footnote. The IFP's support was halved, a prime reason being the NFP (IFP rebels), entering the KZN political arena.

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